Rayne's Return (Hearts of ICARUS Book 3)

by Laura Jo Phillips

  “We’ll go check each room until we find them,” Landor said. “Then we’ll have a focus point so that we can speed travel both of you directly to them, wherever they are.”

  “Be careful, please,” Rayne said, unable to prevent herself from saying it.

  “Don’t worry, Kisu,” Landor said, smiling indulgently. “We will not risk our future with you and our daughters can it be helped. Please put your shield up before we leave.”

  Rayne forced herself to return his smile, then she raised her shield, checking to be sure she was covering Salene, too. When they could no longer see Rayne or Salene, Con and Landor stepped sideways, and were gone. Shortly after the men left, Rayne and Salene saw a large shadow appear on the wall in front of them. Whatever it was, it had long, pointed horns that stood straight up from the top of its head, and a thick, squat body.

  Rayne grabbed Salene’s arm and backed up slowly, their eyes glued to the shadow which came closer and grew bigger with each step it took. Rayne glanced behind them, and saw that they’d backed themselves into a dead-end aisle. There was nowhere for them to go. She considered trying to shift into her bearenca, but there wasn’t enough room to do it without breaking a lot of shelves, which would make a tremendous amount of noise. Worse, it would leave Salene exposed.

  She double checked her shield to be sure it was all the way up, and placed one finger to her lips, warning her sister to be silent. Salene nodded, and they did the only thing they could, which was wait, and hope that being virtually invisible would be enough to convince whoever it was that they weren’t there.

  When the owner of the shadow finally rounded the corner they both frowned, squinting in the dim light to see the tiny creature that now stood at the far end of the aisle. It was only about five inches high, had a humanoid body with short arms and legs, a wrinkled face, enormous round brown eyes, and bright orange cone shaped horns that stood straight up from its head at least four inches, nearly doubling its height. It was dressed in a black tunic that fell to bare feet that were as wide as they were long.

  “Me cannot see you, but me know you do be there,” the tiny…being…said in a deep, gravelly voice that sounded like it belonged to someone much larger. Rayne shuffled through all that she’d learned about different planets and sentient beings in the Thousand Worlds, but she couldn’t remember anything remotely like this tiny creature. She looked at her sister who shook her head. Since he didn’t appear to be immediately dangerous, Rayne lowered her shield.

  The tiny being looked at them for a long moment during which Rayne felt that she’d been weighed, measured, and judged. “Me do be Jinjie,” it said, breaking the silence. “Be you who?”

  “I’m Rayne, and this is my sister, Salene,” Rayne replied. As she spoke, a small cloud appeared in the air above Jinjie, then slowly took the shape of a familiar golden dragon in miniature. “Hello, Wolef.”

  “Greetings, Solin,” Wolef replied. “I apologize for getting here late.”

  “Good thing too since I expected you at half past not-at-all,” Rayne said. “What’s going on?”

  “This is Jinjie of the world once known as Jotunn,” Wolef said. “He was my companion in this place for many decades. I told you about him, remember?”

  “Yes, I remember,” Rayne said, then bowed her head to the diminutive Jotunn, greeting him formerly. “I am honored to meet you, Jinjie of Jotunn.” Jinjie’s eyes widened in surprise before he bobbed his head quickly in return.

  “Honored do be Jinjie,” he said.

  “Jinjie knows a great deal about the Doftle, Solin. If he decides to trust you, he will remain your companion if you take him from this place.”

  “It would be my honor to take you away from here, Jinjie. Afterward, if you wish to remain with us, you may. Otherwise, I will see that you’re taken wherever you wish to go.”

  Jinjie studied her intently for a long moment. “Jinjie do be touch Rayne?”

  Rayne frowned as she ran that through her mind a couple of times. “You want to touch me?”

  “Jinjie do?” he asked again. Rayne knelt down and held her hand out. Jinjie laid both of his tiny hands on her forefinger, then went still, his large brown eyes going glassy. He blinked, released Rayne’s finger, and grinned, displaying large square white teeth.

  “Jinjie do be Rayne friend,” he declared. “Jinjie do be pledge Rayne.”

  “Pledge what?” Rayne asked in surprise.

  “Jinjie,” he said solemnly. “Do be Rayne vizier.”

  Rayne blinked as she struggled to decipher his meaning. “A vizier is a high ranking and trusted advisor,” Wolef explained, speaking only to her now. “He wants to pledge himself and his magic to you, and he wants to act as your advisor. If you agree, he will remain your companion for life, or until you release him. You should know, just between us, that his magic is very weak at the moment. He’ll grow stronger when he’s freed from this place.”

  “Thanks, Wolef,” Rayne said silently, then looked back down at the Jotunn. “I would be honored to have you as an advisor, Jinjie, but I have one condition before agreeing.”

  “Condition do be what?” he asked warily.

  “The condition is that the moment you wish to leave, you must tell me so that I can release you.”

  Jinjie smiled brightly, nodding his little head so quickly that she decided his horns had to be hollow. Otherwise she didn’t see how he could have held his head upright, let alone move it that quickly.

  “Thank you, Wolef, for your help,” she said, rising to her feet.

  “Thanks are not needed, Solin,” Wolef replied as he began to fade. “It is my pleasure to help Jinjie, and you, in this small way.” Rayne sighed softly as Wolef vanished. She’d wanted to ask him a couple of questions, foremost of which was, why was he there?

  “That was…interesting,” Salene said in a low voice.

  Rayne looked at Salene apologetically. “I’ll explain it all later, okay?”

  “Of course,” Salene agreed just as Landor and Con appeared at the opposite end of the aisle where Jinjie had been a couple of minutes earlier.

  Jinjie’s reaction was shocking. He bared his teeth, which were rapidly morphing from blunt squares into sharp glistening daggers, and snarled while spinning around to face the newcomers. The air around him came alive with bright orange sparks and his shape changed from a tiny humanoid to a cat-like creature that stood as high as Rayne’s knees. The sparks faded and they all stared, none of them having ever seen or heard of a creature that looked quite like the one that now stood before them. It had long bright orange fur that stuck straight out from its entire body, and there was something about the glistening tips that warned that they would be not only sharp, but possibly venomous as well. The creature had blood red eyes, four sets of long, curved claws and a wicked looking stinger on the end of its bushy tail.

  Rayne was so shocked that it took her a moment to realize that Jinjie was growling at her men, and they were returning the favor, with interest. “Stop it,” she said sharply. “Landor, Con, this is Jinjie of Jotunn. He was Wolef’s companion in this place, and he’s been trapped here for a few centuries. He’s agreed to act as my adviser concerning the Doftle. Jinjie, these men are my Rami, my mates. Please stop threatening them.”

  Jinjie immediately changed back to his tiny humanoid form and looked up at her with his soft brown eyes. “Jinjie do be no harm Rayne’s mates. Jinjie do be take threatenings back.”

  “Our apologies, Jinjie,” Landor said, eyeing the tiny being carefully. “I have many questions for you, but they must wait.” He looked up at Rayne and Salene. “We found them.”

  “We need to leave now, Jinjie, but one of us has to be touching you or else you’ll be left behind when my Rami speed travel us to our next destination.”

  “Jinjie do be pledge Rayne,” Jinjie said, emphasizing her name. Rayne understood that he meant no one else could touch him. Not yet, anyway. She knelt down again and placed her hand on the floor, palm up. Jinjie hopp
ed on without hesitation and she rose, careful not to jostle her hand too much.

  “Are my men all right?” Salene asked Landor while watching Jinjie climb onto Rayne’s shoulder and sit down, making himself comfortable.

  “They’re alive and, as we suspected, in hibernation tanks,” Landor said, then turned to look directly at the crystal pendant Rayne wore. “Ari, as soon as we reach the tank room, speed travel over to us.” Then he placed one hand on the shoulder not holding Jinjie, stepped sideways, and vanished. A moment later they were standing in what appeared to be a medical lab with six hibernation tanks lined up against one wall. A second later Con and Salene joined them, and a moment after that, Ari did as well.

  While Rayne introduced Ari to Jinjie, Salene went straight to one of the tanks and bent over it. “They really are awake in there,” she said, horrified by the sight. “How is this even possible?”

  “Doftle do be cruel,” Jinjie said sadly. Rayne turned her head so that she could see Jinjie where he sat on her shoulder.

  “Why would they want someone to be awake in a hibernation tank?”

  “Doftle do be like pain, fear, despair,” Jinjie said with clear disgust.

  “Do you mean that they enjoy those emotions in others?” Landor asked with a growl in his voice.

  “Crave,” Jinjie said, nodding. “Doftle do be mind twisted.”

  “To say the least,” Rayne agreed.

  “This is not ordinary hibernation gel,” Con said, plucking an empty container from the waste receptacle. “There’s an ingredient list on the side and a fair amount of material inside. We should take this back to Jasan for the council.”

  “I’ll take it,” Salene offered, accepting the container from Con.

  “Let’s get them out of here,” Ari said, going to stand beside another tank, this one containing Kar.

  “Tanks do be alarmed,” Jinjie warned, startling all of them.

  “Do you know how to disable them?” Landor asked. Jinjie didn’t respond to Landor. Instead, he looked up at Rayne with a questioning expression on his little face.

  “Please?” she said, uncertain what he was waiting for.

  That seemed to be it because Jinjie looked toward the tanks, raised one hand, and pointed his finger at those that held the Gryphons, one at a time. Then he waved his hand in a wide arc and the air around the tanks lit up with orange sparks. A moment later they all heard a faint buzz and the sparks vanished. “Alarms do be dead.”

  Rayne peered at him from the corner of her eye. “That took a lot of energy from you, Jinjie. Please don’t do anything that will hurt you.”

  Jinjie looked at her in surprise, then smiled slowly. “Jinjie do be not harmed, Lady Bear, but do be thanking for care.” Rayne smiled, wondering how he knew she was Clan Bearen, then looked back to the hibernation tanks.

  “Is it safe to remove them from the gel like this?” Con asked.

  Rayne looked down at Jinjie again, who shrugged. “Jinjie do be not know.”

  “It’s either that, or leave them here,” Landor said, his eyes on Talus’s through the plastic of the tank and the clear gel. “We will open the tanks, then speed travel them directly to the infirmary. Con and I will return for Rayne and Salene, and Ari will remain with the med techs on the Armadura to explain their condition.” He saw Talus’s eyes widen, and understood. “Maybe we should take Rayne and Salene back to the Armadura first.”

  “No,” Salene said in a tone that brooked no argument. “Take them first. Rayne can shield us so no one will know we’re here.”

  Landor had grounds for refusing to obey Princess Salene’s command, and there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that it was a command. But they simply didn’t have time to stand around arguing about it. “Rayne, raise your shield now, please. If you do have to fight, use your bearenca.”

  “I will, I promise,” she agreed. “Go now.”

  They each opened the tank they stood next to and, without hesitation, they dipped their hands and arms into the gel so they could get a good hold on the Gryphon within. Rayne heard her men hiss softly, but before she could ask what the problem was, they vanished.

  “I hope it doesn’t take them long,” Salene said, suddenly nervous.

  “It won’t,” Rayne said after raising her shield. “Stay close to me, Salene.”

  Salene nodded absently as she began reading the writing on the side of the container Con had given her. Rayne looked around the room, searching for anything that might provide them with information on the Doftle, what they were doing, perhaps even how they did things. Anything at all would be helpful. She reached for a cabinet door and opened it, smiling at the array of bottles, jars, and instruments inside, all labeled in an unfamiliar language, but that didn’t deter her. If necessary, she had no doubt at all that her Aunt Aisling would be able to translate it. She just needed to make it easily transportable.

  She opened three more cupboards before finding one filled with stacks of linens. She took one that looked like a sheet and spread it out on the floor, then gathered armfuls of items from the first cabinet and piled them into the center of it, moving as fast as she could. When she’d moved everything she could reach, she gathered the corners of the sheet together and tied them into a knot. She dropped the knot just as the door slid open, revealing the Doftle with ten metal legs. Weeble.

  Rayne looked behind her, searching for Salene as Weeble walked through the doorway, his eyes down, apparently lost in thought about something. Her shield was still up, but she was horrified to see that Salene hadn’t stayed close to her after all. She was on the other side of the lab, frozen in the act of filling a transparent container with gel from one of the hibernation tanks that the Gryphons had been in.

  Rayne watched as Weeble looked up and spotted Salene just as the lab door closed behind him. She saw his surprise change to confusion, then speculation, before a cold smile stretched across his face. Suddenly, he rushed across the room on his ten metal legs, straight at Salene, who seemed frozen in place, kneeling on the floor.

  With no time to do anything but act, Rayne called forth her bearenca and lunged at Weeble while her transformation was still taking place. Before Weeble had a chance to register the fact that he was not alone with Salene, her bearenca’s powerful jaws clamped down on his left arm and pulled just in time to stop him from reaching Salene. She saw the transport device strapped to the palm of his right hand and knew that she had no more than a second or two before he hit the button and transported himself, and her, out of the lab. But he didn’t. She was trying to understand why when she noticed the metal leg closest to Salene rising slowly. If he stretched it out, he’d be able to not only reach Salene, but stab her with the pointed tip. Then all he’d have to do was activate his transport device and he’d have them both.

  She bit down harder on the dense flesh of the Doftle’s arm and twisted it with every scrap of strength her bearenca possessed, surprised when the arm remained firmly attached to its owner. It must have hurt though, because Weeble squealed loudly and stumbled sideways, but he did not give up the fight to reach Salene. Just when Rayne thought she’d dragged him far enough back, he struck out with a different leg, hitting Salene in the thigh. It was a glancing blow, barely enough to slice through her pants and break the skin, but not enough to impale her as he intended.

  Terrified by how close he’d come, Rayne dug her claws into the tile floor and pulled harder, putting all of her bearenca’s weight into it, and yet she barely managed to force him far enough from Salene to keep her safe.

  Seeing that Salene was lost to him, Weeble turned his head and smiled into Rayne’s eyes as his thumb pressed the transport button strapped to his right palm. He vanished, leaving Rayne standing in the lab with his unattached arm in her mouth. She spat it out in disgust and shifted back to her human form just as Landor and Con appeared.

  “What in the seven hells?” Con demanded hoarsely.

  “Who’s bleeding?” Landor asked.

  “I am, bu
t it’s not bad,” Salene said.

  Rayne watched her sister stand up without any trouble and relaxed. She turned back for the bundle of items she’d gathered and glanced quickly at her shoulder, surprised to see the tiny Jotunn still hanging on. “You all right, Jinjie?”

  “Jinjie do be not harmed,” he said calmly.

  She nodded in relief and grabbed the knotted sheet. “Will you please get that arm, Landor? It belongs to Weeble.”

  “Of course,” he said, picking it up while Con took a quick look at the wound on Salene’s thigh which had already stopped bleeding. Rayne dragged the bundle across the floor to where Landor stood and smiled, suddenly feeling very tired.

  “I think we should leave now,” she said. “Before Weeble sends more visitors our way.”

  Landor nodded, then frowned at the little line between her brows that generally indicated tension of some sort. Using tri-phase, he reached for Rayne’s physical sensations. His left leg immediately buckled, the pain flooding his nervous system so shocking and unexpected that he had no time to react. He landed hard on his right knee, but barely felt it under the enormity of Rayne’s pain.

  “Landor?” Rayne asked in surprise. He cut off his connection with Rayne and climbed to his feet, then grabbed hold of her without a word and transported back to the Armadura.

  The moment they were all back on the observation deck of the Armadura he put her down, then knelt in front of her. From this distance and angle it was easy to see that the black denim was darker over her upper thigh than elsewhere. He grabbed the waist band of her jeans and ripped them straight down the side, revealing a gaping wound which had bled heavily enough to stain her entire leg, right down to her ankle where it had turned the cuff of her sock red before soaking into her boot.

  “Where did that come from?” Rayne asked, paling with shock as she looked into Landor’s blazing eyes.

  “Weeble stabbed you with one of his legs, when you were in your bearenca alter-form,” Salene said. “Don’t you remember?”